7 Towns in Southern California that Transport You to the Past
As the first region of California settled by Europeans, SoCal has a long and rich history. Of course, its history did not begin and end with European colonization. For millennia prior, SoCal was an Indigenous empire, and in the centuries since, it changed Mexican and US hands before becoming the adrenal gland of North America. Though San Diego and Los Angeles depict historical stages on actual stages, small towns provide behind-the-scenes looks at everything from Indigenous pictographs to Spanish missions to abandoned gold mines to Golden Age film sets. Replace abstractions in big cities with artifacts in these small settlements during a historic tour of SoCal.
Solvang
Want to tour quasi-authentic Danish buildings in SoCal? Visit Solvang, a small city founded by Danish Americans in 1911. Although some of its Danish-ish dens, like a school that now houses the Bit O' Denmark Restaurant, were built during initial settlement, many were constructed as part of a post-WWII tourism plan. Successfully retooled as "The Danish Capital of America," Solvang lures over a million tourists per year with the Elverhøj Museum, Big Red Clog, Paaske Windmill, Hans Christian Andersen Museum, and myriad other relics. But Solvang can take you further and wider back than just mid-20th century Denmark. Before it was a Danish American colony, it was a Spanish mission as evidenced by the still-standing Mission Santa Inés. And before it was a Spanish mission, it was a Chumash haunt as evidenced by the nearby Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park. Den, Spanish, and Indigenous marks abound around Solvang.
Oak Park
Oak Park is an unincorporated community but also a separate settlement from sizeable Thousand Oaks. Though surrounded by millions of people (in not just Thousand Oaks but the rest of Greater Los Angeles), Oak Park has a history of isolation going back millennia. The Chumash first tamed this wild land, leaving behind archaeological sites that are preserved as El Escorpión Park and the Chumash Indian Museum. The latter contains authentic artifacts and a replica of an Indigenous village. Relics from Spanish usurpers can also be found in the area, as can ruins of sets used in Western films. For much of the 20th century, the site that became Oak Park was a one-road tract used by ranchers and movie producers. It was not until the late 1960s that a modern community began to grow. Now, some 14,000 people occupy the present while echoing the ancient times in Oak Park.
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Carmel-by-the-Sea invokes a time before street addresses. Thanks to a 1929 ordinance that preserves the town's quaint character, visible, numerical addresses are banned in central Carmel. Businesses are thus identified by their street placement (The Stationaery Restaurant is on San Carlos Street, 3 NE of 6th Avenue), while houses are identified the same way or with a flashy name (Sea Castle). But street numbers are not the only casualties of that archaic law. Everything from street lights to high heels to chain restaurants to ice cream cones have been banned with varying levels of enforcement. The address ban might soon be lifted, which, though angering to traditionalists, will make it easier for visitors to find Carmel's sweet historic sites. Addresses for greater Carmel relics, such as the Carmel Mission Basilica Museum and the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, are already numericized.
San Miguel
San Miguel started as an adobe-built Spanish mission in 1797. Add 200-plus years and a bit of wine and the community feels pretty much the same. The Mission San Miguel Arcángel survives in its second, early-19th-century form, consisting of a church, arcade (original definition), cemetery, bell tower, and Indigenous-painted murals. Just down the road is Rios-Caledonia Adobe, which, having been built in circa 1835, is the oldest residential building in San Miguel. After touring an adobe abode and adobe abbey, ferment those memories at the Locatelli Vineyards Winery and the Villa San Juliette. Be sure to sober up before traveling north to the Camp Roberts Historical Museum, which is considered California's largest Army museum.
Julian
Gold may have brought people to Julian, but Golden Delicious kept them. In the 1870s, a gold rush spun this one-horse town into a high-horse hub of the SoCal mountains. As others staked their claims, one miner, James T. Madison, decided to put things in the ground rather than extract them. He planted apple trees, the fruits of which were bountiful—especially at over 4,000 feet above sea level. As the mines inevitably died, orchards proliferated. Now tourists can backtrack two trails of history: underground at The Eagle Mining Co. and above ground at Peacefield Orchard, which claims the oldest apple tree in Julian. Of course, only the latter trail still produces. You can pick your own apples at numerous orchards or buy apple pies at the Julian Pie Company and numerous other bakeries.
Pioneertown
Like Solvang, Pioneertown is a relatively modern rendition of a bygone era. However, instead of the Old Country, Pioneertown parrots the Old West. It was founded in 1946 by a group of Hollywood investors intending to build a "living, breathing [Western] movie set." All manner of 1880s-style haunts were erected, many of which served as backdrops for Westerns like Riders in the Sky and Cain's Cutthroats and functional businesses for residents and visitors. Although movie shoots have dwindled, businesses continue to function. You can buy art at MazAmar Art Pottery and eat BBQ at Pappy + Harriet's while admiring an Old West town that is now so old it has become what it intended to imitate. The National Register of Historic Places agrees.
San Simeon
San Simeon preserves a time when zebras roamed California. We don't mean a prehistoric era before Pangea split and sequestered zebras in Africa. Rather, San Simeon contains (but barely) a dazzle of feral zebras that originate from William Randolph Hearst's defunct zoo. They number about 125 and are unmanaged save for a fence that tries to keep them on the 83,000-acre Hearst Ranch. San Simeon was and remains a kingdom of the Hearst dynasty, which reached its peak with William Randolph's publishing and survives off Stephen T's ranching. Rivaling zebras as the most dazzling Hearst relic is Hearst Castle, the former palace of William Randolph that is now a tourable National Historic Landmark overlooking Hearst Ranch. Experience the Hearstory.
Hearst vestiges, Old West storefronts, Gold Rush tunnels, adobe buildings, religious relics, Indigenous artifacts, and Danish-style haunts are just some of the things to see during a historic tour of SoCal. Stick to small towns for uncrowded, authentic sites that blast you to the past physically rather than big, lavish cities that blast you to the past artificially. An ancient mountain under your feet feels better than one on screen.
